It was about halfway through a meeting with John Tory and Mitzie Hunter, of advocacy group CivicAction, that I began to wonder how much it cost to invent the atomic bomb.

CivicAction has been working for years to raise public awareness about the need to properly fund Metrolinx’s “The Big Move” plan. The Big Move lists dozens of identified transit projects throughout the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) that, if completed, would not only improve local transit, but would also create an integrated regional system. Some are already underway. But dozens more remain unstarted and unfunded. It’s an issue that politicians in and around Toronto love to talk about, but none seem capable of actually addressing. And delay only makes the problem worse — hundreds of thousands of new residents move into the GTHA every year.

After hearing Metrolinx’s shortlist of ideas for revenue tools to pay for a planned expansion costing about $2-billion a year over 25 years, Ford responded by pretending to gag in front of reporters.

“We can’t tax people, implement these new taxes to pay for transit. You want to pay for transit? I’ve got a good idea: it’s called a casino,” Ford said at press conference to kickoff the city’s spring cleanup.

“You can get a lot of money to pay for a good amount of the transit. You can get the private sector involved. People aren’t ready for new taxes yet, they just aren’t, so I can’t support any of these new taxes, and that’s it.”